Entre Les Murs

Champagne Weekend

Last weekend was a mix of champagne tasting and more usual tourist activities.

The Champagne

Our champagne tasting was supposed to commence with a visit to the winery of Harlan Père et Fils, whence we had ordered last fall a number of bottles. It seems we are only to enjoy their champagne and not their hospitality. We found the winery, and believed we were expected even though we hadn't managed to make a final appointment; yet when we knocked on the door, no one answered. This would not have been so puzzling were it not possible to see someone sitting at a desk through the partially-frosted glass of the door.

We moved on, and randomly pulled in at another winery instead. There are thousands of wineries so naturally most are quite small operations, not set up to formally host tourists. In this case we found the proprietor behind the house in a small swimming pool with her children. She obligingly wrapped a towel around herself, gave us a tour of the operation and offered us a taste of their wine. We bought three bottles, partly to be polite, but also because it had a nice, unusually fruity, flavour.

We hit our tasting stride the next day, in Epernay, where we went for a tour at a much larger operation, Mercier. The founder, Eugène Mercier, had a flair for publicity, and it clearly has not been lost by his inheritors. They have an elaborate set-up to offer tours to visitors, with a grand reception area, gift shops and tour buses in the parking lot. It started with a short film, then they loaded us in a laser-guided tram that drove itself through the caves, attended by only the plummy British tour guide. Part of the lore of the place involves a car race that took place in the caves; I was skeptical until I saw the size and extent.


Traditional and modern riddling apparatus, at Mercier

We happened upon another tasting at the tourist office in the centre of Epernay. One offering was quite forgettable, but the other was sufficiently interesting that we arranged to visit that winery the following day.


This giant cultivating hand passed above us on the Piper Heidsieck tour
First thing the following day we visited another grand operation, Piper Heidsieck, in Reims. They also had a Disneyland ride in their caves, this one having individual cars that followed a track through a Pirates-of-the-Caribbean style ride, with gigantic grapes illustrating the stages of wine-making, and Hollywood dioramas to highlight the prestige of their champagne, all commentary playing from a speaker in the seats. It was quite a hoot, although not really very informative. The tasting at the end was good, and we came away with a couple of bottles.


We squeezed in another random tasting, with a more conventionally clad hostess. The wine was worth adding another couple of bottles to the growing stash in the trunk. But the most interesting tour we had, after all the hype and flash at the large chateaux, was at our final stop, at the winery whose wares we'd encountered at the tourist office tasting. We had a little difficulty finding it, partly because there was a bike race going through the village that diverted traffic (on the other hand, that made it easy to find people of whom to ask directions). Once we did, we were welcomed and given a tour of their much smaller caves, with the proprietor himself explaining what he did at each step. He even showed us a diagram he used to determine how far to turn the bottles, a system he said had been developed by his grandfather. He claims it takes him half an hour per day to riddle four thousand bottles (which he does for a month five times a year, for his total output of 20,000 bottles per year). We got all kinds of details that really pulled together the understanding of champagne-making that we'd learned in generalities elsewhere (and not to mention having a bit of a French lesson).

Being Tourists

We left on Friday morning and spent that night in the city of Troyes, which has an old centre that was charmingly medieval. These towns (Rouen was another example) don't feel like museums, but real living cities. There may be a few more antique shops and restaurants than you'd otherwise find, but the 400-year-old half-timbered buildings are as likely to house a bank or a travel agency.


In the morning we did a thorough tour of the Maison de l'Outil et de la Pensée Ouvrière, a staggering collection of hand tools spanning centuries, and which manages to focus on the philosophy of being a craftsman almost as much as the implements of the trades.


Displays of hammers and trowels. Click to enlarge; that they're all different is part of the point

The church of St. Pantaléon contained some interesting glass (which yielded a few dogs for J).


From Troyes we drove to Epernay for lunch, then after some meandering on secondary roads, to Reims. A much larger city than either of the other two, it feels genuinely urban rather than being a local industry or market town.


The cathedral, Notre-Dame de Reims, is where French sovereigns were crowned for many years. The following morning we walked through it. It had some impressive glass, although much had been lost in the first world war. Some had been replaced, including by one that featured scenes of champagne production, including the experimenting Dom Perignon, and another more religious one by Chagall.


Before we got back on the champagne trail again, we spent an hour at a unique little museum, devoted to the German surrender in World War II. The map room in Eisenhower's headquarters was where the event took place and it has been preserved in honour.


Near Troyes and again on the way home, Janet's unparalleled shopping instincts honed in on a couple of outlet malls of a sort that I didn't think existed in Europe. But other than the language and the currency we could have been back home.

Next we'll do it all over again, in Bordeaux.

posted 31.7.06